Your stores contain a variety of equipment. Each store uses many contractors – plumbing, lighting, refrigeration, HVAC, etc. Some of these contractors may only be authorized to work on certain equipment or in certain geographies.

When managing a network of contractors becomes too complex, grocery and retail chains can turn to contractor management systems. These systems streamline processes and improve efficiencies in many ways, including:

Generating work orders automatically, and then dispatching them to the appropriate providers

Enabling contractors to report their work against open orders

Enabling managers to track a contractor’s response to maintenance events

Recording all maintenance costs

Automating the accumulation, review, and payment of approved invoices

Contractor management systems reduce duplicate work orders, unnecessary service calls, invoicing errors, and inaccurate time reporting. Ultimately, these systems help you get the right technicians on-site faster to resolve issues and make preventive maintenance easier.

Improve Your Service Processes with 12 Best Practices

Beyond a contractor management strategy, consider these 12 best practices to improve retail service management.

1. Ensure your internal team is proactively involved in preventive maintenance and completing work on time, and measure their productivity to reduce inefficiency and waste.

2. When negotiating contracts with external contractors, use data and benchmarks to get competitive quotes and the best prices.